British horseracing track operator Arena Racing Company Limited has announced the signing of a deal that has seen it spend an undisclosed amount of money to acquire a controlling stake in Greek virtual games developer Vermantia Media Group Limited.

Arena Racing Company Limited is responsible for 16 United Kingdom horseracing tracks including Royal Windsor Racecourse and Fontwell Park Racecourse and explained that the agreement will see Filippos Antonopoulos, Chief Executive Officer for Athens-based Vermantia Media Group Limited, retain a shareholding and his current executive post.

London-headquartered Arena Racing Company Limited additionally detailed that the acquisition will see it utilize Vermantia Media Group Limited’s partnerships with over 20 gaming operators in 31 nations to expand its own global distribution capacity while assisting its new subordinate’s efforts in enlarging its infrastructure and technology teams so that it may carry on designing innovative content for a plethora of digital and retail channels.

Martin Cruddace, Chief Executive Officer for Arena Racing Company Limited, declared that his firm is a top rights holder for international and British horse and greyhound racing content and that its purchase of a majority stake in Vermantia Media Group Limited ‘fits perfectly with our existing rights portfolio’.

“Technological advancements mean that rights holders now have the opportunity to work together on both sale and delivery, making the old business model which relied on unconnected third parties outdated,” read a Thursday statement from Cruddace. “In our view, rights holders no longer need to give away value to those third parties and our deals with horseracing and greyhounds in the United States, Australia and South Africa demonstrate that proposition.”

As such, Arena Racing Company Limited stated that it is to add Vermantia Media Group Limited’s innovative Connect advance to its own product offering, which means that partners will be able to enjoy a portfolio of virtual sports alongside some 60,000 live events every year encompassing horse and greyhound races from the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States and South Africa.

In addition, Vermantia Media Group Limited is to continue serving as an exclusive international supplier of greyhound content from Arena Racing Company Limited while also supplying its parent with bespoke retail channels alongside distributing supplementary content.

“We are excited to have done this deal with the team at Arena Racing Company Limited and look forward to leveraging the great chemistry between our teams to ensure a strong platform for our business,” read a statement from Antonopoulos.